


Good News

by FantasyBard



Series: Moments Through Generations [1]
Category: Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Genre: F/M, Fatherhood, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24851809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasyBard/pseuds/FantasyBard
Summary: It's very rare for the Protector of the junkyard and his mate to fight. But that is the rather uncomfortable position that Munkustrap finds himself in one spring morning, with no idea what caused it or how to make things right with Demeter. Surprisingly, it happens to be Alonzo who clues him on what's really going on.
Relationships: Alonzo/Cassandra (Cats), Demeter/Munkustrap (Cats)
Series: Moments Through Generations [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797889
Kudos: 23





	Good News

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little fluffy one-shot for one of my favorite Cats couples. Enjoy!

It was a rare thing for the Protector of the Junkyard and his mate to have a fight. Indeed, Demeter and Munkustrap could be called the ideal couple. One had only to watch them interacting for any length of time to see how devoted the two of them were to each other. However, that wasn’t the case one spring morning when Munkustrap found himself unexpectedly on Demeter’s bad side. 

Demeter hadn't been behaving oddly. In the last few years, she had truly blossomed. Though she still carried some strains of her skittish nervousness, she had matured with a quiet and gentle confidence. She was well suited to her role as one of the healers in the junkyard. Perhaps Munksutrap’s could be pardoned for not having noticing anything out of the ordinary in the last few days, until Demeter blew up at him one morning and practically ran him out of their den, which had used to be a haven of felicity for them both. 

Munkustrap was completely confused as to what had caused the outburst. Was it because he had been so busy with his duties as Protector of the junkyard? He was still relatively new to the position, which meant he spent long hours patrolling the perimeter of the yard, to say nothing of trying to ensure that the hunting and gathering parties had enough protection, and generally keeping tabs on the health and well-being of everyone of the residents. 

In all of that, Demeter had been nothing but supportive. She hadn’t so much as hinted that she resented that he couldn’t spend as much time with her as he was certain they both wanted. True, she hadn’t directly accused him of that, but he couldn’t help but worry that some long buried resentment was starting to show. And if that were the case, how was he going to handle it. The greatest fear he could still ever entertain was that somehow his beloved Demeter would come to fear him as much as she had Macavity. That was a state of affairs he was determined to avoid at all costs. 

And it was in this pensive state of thought that he was discovered by Alonzo, who was acting as a beast of burden to his six-month old son, Plato. 

“Come on, dad, faster.” said Plato, when he sensed his father was slowing down at the sight of Munkustrap. 

Alonzo, despite Plato’s protests, came to a stop and set his kitten down. “Look, Plato, six times around the junkyard is enough for one day.”

Plato sighed pathetically, as though his entire world had just come crashing down. But Alonzo softened the blow by adding, “I’ll take you tracking later tonight. We might go further than we have before, maybe even into the forest.”

Plato brightened considerably upon hearing this, and he hugged Alonzo tightly. “Thanks, dad. You’re the best.” 

Alonzo chuckled as Plato scampered off, than walked over to Munkstrap who was smiling at the scene despite his own distractions. “He’s going to be a fine tom, that kitten of yours’.” 

Alonzo took the complement as modestly as he could, but he was obviously proud of his son. “He’s getting my tracking ability already, not to mention his mother’s intuition. I tell you, Munku, there’s nothing quite like having a kit to put everything in perspective.”

He sat down beside Munkustrap. “Enough about me, though. You’re the one who looks kind of down. You okay? The pressures of the job aren’t getting to you, are they? Understandable considering it’s only been a few months since you took on the duties full time.”

Munkustrap shook his head and said, “Yeah, maybe they are. It’s the only thing I can think of that might be causing it. Thing is, Demeter and I had a fight this morning.”

“Really? That’s not like the two of you.”

“I know. We’ve had our disagreements in the past, but we’ve always been able to work them out pretty quickly. And this was over such a trivial thing.”

“What was it?”

Munkustrap was pretty embarrassed now that he was having to say it out loud. “Apparently, I tracked mud into the den.”

Alonzo nodded sagely. “Ah yes, that could definitely be grounds for separation with a lot of queens. I can see why you’re so worried.”

“Alonzo, it’s not funny. She made it seem like I had cheated on her or something. I mean, I was out pretty late last night, but that’s hardly anything new. She knows that. This morning, she woke me up by screaming in my face, telling me I should be more careful about the appearance of the den. She also said that I could have brought in a terrible disease from my patrol.”

“And what did you say to that?”

“What was I supposed to say? I tried to apologize, but I didn’t know what I was apologizing for, exactly. I didn’t know what the big deal was.”

Alonzo shook his head. “Good grief, Munku, that’s the last thing you want to tell a queen when you’re arguing with her.”

“You’re starting to sound like Tugger. Considering his track record, I would have thought you could do a little better than that.”

“I’m only trying to help, Munku. It doesn’t seem like your way worked all that well either considering you’re out here right now.”

Munkustrap really had no choice but to agree to that. “She totally lost it. We started screaming at each other, then she came at me with her claws out like a banshee, and I had to run for my life. You can tell she’s got Skimble’s temper in there somewhere. I’m almost afraid that she’ll try to scratch my eyes out if I go back.”

Alonzo patted Munkustrap’s shoulder encouragingly. “Hey, Munku, don’t worry. All queens are like this in the first few months. I remember when Cassie was going through this; boy, did she have some fits. Don’t worry, they do tend to settle down once they get used to the change that’s going on.” 

Mkunustrap blinked and looked at him. “What are you talking about?”

Alonzo returned Munkustrap’s blank stare. “You mean, you don’t know?”

“No, believe me. If I did, don’t you think I would be doing something about it?”

“Well, I just thought that you knew about Demeter, so I figured….”

“Alonzo, would you stop talking in riddles and just tell me what’s going on?”

“Well, Demeter is… she’s pregnant.”

Mnukustrap’s eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open. “Pregnant?! You mean, like with kittens, pregnant?”

“There’s not another kind of pregnant as far as I know, so yeah, I guess.”

“How did you know my mate was pregnant before I did? Or even she did?”

“Cassandra had a vision earlier this week, and told me about it. There are advantages to being mated to a seer. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I thought when you talked about her behavior that you already had something of an inkling.”

For several minutes, Munkustrap was unable to make any sort of reply. He and Demeter had talked about having kittens, of course. But, it was always a surprise for a tom to find out he’s going to be a father. He had no reason to doubt Alonzo’s word, and when he thought about it, Demeter’s behavior seemed to line up with what he knew of queens when they were pregnant (which wasn’t much admittedly, but still probably more than a lot of other toms). Not only had she been moody, she had been having trouble sleeping and was eating more than usual. 

Once the initial shock of the announcement had passed, what he felt was an overwhelming wave of euphoria and new-found responsibility. “I’m going to be a father.” he said, so quietly and filled with awe he seemed to have completely forgotten Alonzo’s presence. But the next second he turned to him and said. “Alonzo, what in the Everlasting am I supposed to do? Demeter hates me now-”

“Munkustrap, believe me, it’s not you. Dem’ll forgive you, the most important thing is that you and she don’t start to drift apart. This is a time when mates need to be close. Just go and talk to her. She’s probably cooled down by now.” He saw that Munkustrap still looked a little uncertain. “Look, if it will make you feel better, give her a present.”

“A present?”

“Yeah, queens like getting presents. But, make sure it’s something that shows her you’re thinking of the kittens.”

“I didn’t even know I was going to be a father until two minutes ago. What am I supposed to give her?”

Alonzo shrugged as he got to his feet. “You make that call for yourself, buddy. But, for what it's worth, I can already tell you’re going to be a great father. Now, go find something and then go talk to Demeter.”

Munkustrap also got to his feet, and actually managed a smile for the first time that day. “Who made you in charge?”

“I’m taking the prerogative of second-in-command, and telling you that you need to take the day off. I’ll take care of any problems the junkyard has.”

Munkstrap might have objected on any other occasion, but for right now, he wouldn’t have liked anything better. Nodding his thanks to Alonzo, he went running off to try and find what could be considered a fitting gift for the mother of his kittens.

* * *

It took Munkustrap a few hours to find what he hoped would be a suitable gift for Demeter. Being as he had very little experience in this area, he had to guess as to what he could actually give her that would be useful for the eventual birth. However, he eventually came across what he thought would be perfect. He could only hope that she would consider it the same way. 

He was in the process of figuring out how he would bring it back to the den, when he heard Demeter’s soft voice behind him. “Munkustrap?” 

Munkustrap quickly covered the basket with an old blanket, and darted out from behind the junk pile where he had found it. “Uh, hi, Demeter. What are you doing here?” He winced at the rather pathetic wording.

Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice. She looked far calmer than she had been just that morning, and that was a good sign. However, she was also fidgeting nervously and seemed to be having difficulty meeting his gaze. Forgetting the bad feelings of the argument from that morning, Munkustrap immediately came up to her and lifted her face to meet his. “Dem, what’s the matter?”

“I have to tell you something, Munk. I wasn’t feeling well this morning, so I went to Jelly. And she told me that I-I’m pregnant.” 

Munkstrap had known that Demeter was pregnant, but actually hearing her say it was quite a different matter. He had thought that he would have to keep the happiness that was bursting inside of him hidden for a few days, a task that seemed utterly impossible. Many of the Jellicles would have considered him somewhat stoic (his brother Tugger would probably have had more than a few other words to describe him, none of them necessarily charming). When it came to his mate, it was difficult to keep his emotions under lock and key.

However, since Demeter already knew, he was as relieved as he was ecstatic that he would be able to share it with her. “Dem, that’s wonderful news.” He said with a smile, as he embraced her. 

“That’s why I’ve been so moody lately. I should have been able to know about it considering I'm a healer, but I just didn't think of it.” Demeter was explaining, her words spilling out. “That’s why I got you so angry at you this morning. I didn’t mean any of it, and it all seems to stupid now-”

“Shh, shhh, Dem, it’s all right.” soothed Munkustrap, “I’m just glad you’re okay. I’m so thrilled about this.” 

“You are, really?” said Demeter, looking up at him. 

“Yes, of course. Aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. I’ve wanted this for awhile. But, I just wanted to be sure that you wanted it to.”

They looked at each other and began to laugh when they realized how silly their conversation must have sounded to outside ears. Munkustrap kissed her and then said, “Actually, Dem, I have to tell you, I kind of already knew before you told me. Alonzo told me that Cassandra had some sort of vision about you, and when I mentioned our falling out to him this morning, he suggested what I should do.”

“And what did he say?”

“Close your eyes.” said Munkustrap, eagerly as he dashed over to where he had covered his gift with the blanket, and began to drag it out into the open. Once he had arranged it into what he hoped was an appropriately impressive setting, he called out to her, “Okay, you can look now.”

Demeter opened her eyes and stared at the sturdily constructed basked. “A basket?”

“Yeah, Alonzo said I should get you something, for the kittens. And I know that our den probably isn’t all that comfortable for kittens, so I thought it might be good to have a place for them.”

Demeter looked at the basket, then at Munkustrap and immediately burst into tears. For a moment, Munkustrap was afraid that he said the wrong thing, for the second time that day. “Dem, what’s wrong? I thought you would like it.”

“No, I do. I love it. It’s these stupid mood swings. I’m crying when I’m happy, how pathetic is that?”

Munkustrap took her paws in his, and said, “Well, to be quite truthful, I prefer this to the alternative.”

Though she was still crying, Demeter began to laugh. Munkustrap kissed her again, his paw tracing to rest gently on her belly. He had once made a promise, after Macavity, that he would never let anyone harm Demeter ever again. Now, he made a new vow: he would not only protect her, he would see to it that no one ever harmed their kittens. They would always be safe. They would always be loved.

Munkustrap had played many parts in his first Jellicle life. But he somehow got the feeling that he wouldn’t enjoy any role more greatly than that of a father.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first foray into the Cats fandom, but I am a long time fan of the musical. This is the first story I'm posting in a series of interconnected fics, some of which will be multi-chapter and others will be one shots. I hope that reading these stories will bring a little bit of light and joy during a difficult time.


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